GS500 Dual Sport Project

[FloridaSteve]

Bitchen! I was thinking the same thing. I think there are front ends that might have fit in there fairly easily. I've swapped a few out over the years on various projects and between spacer and creative bearing swaps I've been lucky and am yet had to have to press out a stem.

[mtothef]

Originally Posted by FloridaSteve

Bitchen! I was thinking the same thing. I think there are front ends that might have fit in there fairly easily. I've swapped a few out over the years on various projects and between spacer and creative bearing swaps I've been lucky and am yet had to have to press out a stem.

i used to be of the same mindset - hunt around until i found the forks that had the lucky combination of right stem length AND correct bearing diameter to fit whatever frankenproject i was building. ran into a brick wall on my last two projects in that regard. one was swapping a kx500 front end onto the faux rallye xt600, the other was swapping some new 50mm marzocchis and a husqvarna triple clamp onto my aprilia rxv550. in each case, the stems needed to be swapped, and in each case doing that reduced the bearing sourcing, machine work and headache time involved by a factor of about a million.

[FlySniper]

Stem bearings.....


http://www.allballsracing.com/index.php/forkconvertion


Axle diameters....


Rear: http://scandalon.com/2009/06/motorcy...xle-diameters/

Front: http://scandalon.com/2009/06/motorcy...iameter-chart/

The AllBalls site is a HUGE help. It's shorcoming is that it doesn't list stem lengths, but It did help me figure out which bearings to use for my Ninja/KLR/KL conversion (someday!). Turns out the Vulcan 500 stem bearing kit has the exact bearings I need for mine.


Have you thought about having weld in cups made? That way you could just lengthen the steering head on the GS frame and use the DR stem, bearings and triples without modification.

And you might look at using an RM-Z/RM-X rear suspension. I've seen them swapped into DR650's and they have a much better ratio than the DR.

[Bleached]

Originally Posted by FlySniper

Have you thought about having weld in cups made? That way you could just lengthen the steering head on the GS frame and use the DR stem, bearings and triples without modification.

And you might look at using an RM-Z/RM-X rear suspension. I've seen them swapped into DR650's and they have a much better ratio than the DR.

I ended up with the DR650 front end thinking it would an easier swap based on the info I had at hand. Once I got it, I realized that the later DR650 didn't fit as easily. Either way, I decided to keep what I had bought and use it. Also, any other dirt front end that would fit with the GS500 frame with minimal mods probably wouldn't be beefy enough to handle the bikes weight or have good enough brakes. The DR650 was perfect for that.

Pressing out the stem really wasn't a big deal. It's much simpler to turn a piece of aluminum stock into a stem than it is to machine and weld a head stock extension, IMO. Also, by machining a stem an using that SV650 bearing I referred to earlier, I can keep all of the stock dimensions of the DR650 stem, just make it shorter. That's easy directions for the shop and peace of mind for me that it's going to be strong enough.

Thanks for the heads up on the rear susp. When I get to that point I'll check it out.

[SOLO LOBO]

You've seem this right?

Webber Rallye Twin

[FloridaSteve]

I "get" it and then i don't get it. For not insane dollars I can get a stock DR650 well within striking distance performance wise of a mild EX engine and for a lot less aggravation. But the cool factor IS off the charts though.

Originally Posted by SOLO LOBO

You've seem this right?

Webber Rallye Twin

[dbarale]

Originally Posted by SOLO LOBO

You've seem this right?

Webber Rallye Twin

Awesome but at $68,000 it is about $65,000 out of my price range...

[Chris S]

Check out my what I call my 'GSR500' here.
Been at it two and a half years, but only the back wheel and gearing to sort out now.

DR front like you, but 19" Excels both ends like a flat tracker, so one spare does both. (I watched On Any Sunday at a vulnerable moment ;-)

Have you heard of the SV650 shock trick? Get's the back up to match a DR front end.

Good luck with your build. Looks like you're working it all out.

There are some terrific machines in this SARequired section - my sorts of bikes!

Chris S

[NortwestRider]

Is this the Chris S that wrote the book ???.

[Chris S]

That's me.

Continuously pushing the limits of adventure motorcycling ... in the wrong direction ;-/

C

(my original rat bike, fyi)

[Adrian V]

Hi Chris,

Just checked out the page on your GSR 500. Care to share the mods you did to press?

Apologies for the thread drift Bleached, but it's sort of relevant....

Cheers,

Adrian

[Chris S]

Hi Adrian, dont want to hijack either but what I listed above sums up the key mods:

• DR front end
• SV back shock
• 19" rims on DR hubs

The rest is (or soon will be) just the usual dirt road and travel mods + a platform to test stuff on.

Chris

[buls4evr]

How about a DR350 18" rear wheel and spacers in that GS? I know that a 350 wheel fits right into a DR650. This gives you a much better choice of OR tires. About the same circumference as the 17 with a bigger tire too.A lot cheaper than a DR650 wheel.

[pjm204]

Why not weld up the GS stem and then turn it down. I did this with good results on a KLR stem. If you're not comfortable with the welding, take it to a pro, I'm sure they won't charge much if you talk up your project.

[Adrian V]

Does anyone have a link on how to do the SV (650?) shock mod? Has anyone tried using the RMX or DRZ 400 forks/shocks?

Cheers,

Adran